Leaders respond to Bush’s push to lift offshore-drilling ban

KATHRINE SCHMIDT Staff Writer

Saturday

Jun 21, 2008 at 8:00 AMJun 21, 2008 at 8:03 AM

HOUMA -- Local business leaders hailed President Bush’s latest push to lift a decades-long federal ban on offshore drilling but said they’d need to find a solution to the state’s already-stretched workforce and infrastructure.

HOUMA -- Business leaders hailed President Bush’s latest push to lift a decades-long federal ban on offshore drilling but said they’d need to find a solution to the state’s already-stretched workforce and infrastructure.

"This region would benefit tremendously," said Ted Falgout, director of Port Fourchon. That said, "You can’t just wake up one morning and say, let’s open the eastern Gulf. To increase our energy security we need to fix or sustain the ability of the region that will support this."

Bush on Wednesday urged Congress to drop the ban that has since the early 1980s prohibited offshore drilling in wide swaths of the oceans surrounding the U.S., areas the White House has estimated could yield up to 18 billion barrels of oil.

Major opposition from mainly Democrats, particularly from the coastal states of Florida and California, makes a change in policy unlikely for the moment. But in an election year when consumers are staggering under the burden of $4 gas, expanding domestic production and opening up offshore drilling is back in the public spotlight as the presumptive party nominees spar over energy policy. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., supports it, while while Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is opposed.

"It’ll be red versus blue, drill versus don’t drill," said Larry Wall, public relations coordinator for the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. "That’s going to be the election."

Impacts here, elsewhere

Business leaders overall doubted the ban would be dropped, and even if new areas were opened up, it would be a few years before sites are operational. But they overwhelmingly said more drilling would bring yet more business to Louisiana’s already-booming

offshore services sectors.

"Florida has no infrastructure -- there’s just nothing over there," Wall said. "Anything done in that area is going to involve Louisiana companies: increased employment, increased revenue. It’s a win-win for the business community."

But business leaders, the local chambers of commerce and government officials have all said companies are already struggling mightily to find the qualified employees such as boat captains, welders and fitters that they need.

unemployment in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes is under 3 percent and it’s hard to drive a block without passing a "Help Wanted" sign or billboard.

Reached Friday, Kerry Chauvin, CEO of Gulf Island Fabrication, said he thought Louisiana could ultimately meet the demand. "I don’t think we’d have any major problems in staffing up to handle these new frontiers."

But Kenneth Bruce, a marine instructor at Fletcher Technical Community College’s LAMPI campus, said his school can’t train workers fast enough. He has maritime classes to train seamen and boat captains booked through September, he said.

"As they’re drilling farther and farther, they need a greater number manning the rigs, a greater number manning vessels," he said. "There’s more and more oil demanded, more rigs have to be put down. That impacts everything that goes on in Houma."

Infrastructure needs

More drilling would mean more service business for Port Fourchon, which produces 16 to 18 percent of the nation’s domestic oil supply.

Falgout stressed the need for regional navigation canals. The same pressure would apply to the fragile, two-lane La. 1, the only road connecting Port Fourchon to the rest of the state.

And even more service activity in an already-critical area would put even more pressure on the eroding Louisiana coast, making levees and coastal-mitigation programs all the more important, Falgout said.

But Wall suggested that expanded drilling sites could further raise the profile of the port and help generate momentum for federal and state money for infrastructure improvements.

"If the Gulf opens up fully, it gives you a lot more reason to invest there," Wall said.

But if service businesses were eventually developed, say in Florida or Alabama, to serve far-away offshore sites, would this drain traffic away from Houma and Port Fourchon?

The energy resources are so great that this isn’t likely, the experts said.

"We’re going to have all the business we can accommodate for quite some time," Falgout said.

Indeed, service sites elsewhere could relieve the pressure on Fourchon and create more energy-transportation options if a hurricane struck south Louisiana.

But careful management is critical, Falgout said, to avoid a boom-and-bust cycle and leave "marsh grass rolling across our streets rather than tumbleweeds."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Staff Writer Kathrine Schmidt can be reached at 857-2204 or kathrine.schmidt@houmatoday.com.

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